Convenience package



April 24, 1951 I M. E. GOURDlN CONVENIENCE PACKAGE Filed July 5, 1947 IN VEN TOR. Mabel E. Gourd/n ATTORNEY taining Patented Apr. 24, 1951 UNITED STATES FFICE CONVENIENCE PACKAGE Mabel E. Gourdin, San Mateo, Calif. Application July 5, 1947, Serial No. 759,231

6 Claims.

The present invention relates to improvements in convenience packages, and itsprincipal object is to provide individual packages, each cona toilet seat cover and a limited number of toilet papers, and shaped and dimensioned for easy storing in limited spaces such as automobile front compartments, ladies purses and mens pockets.

It is further proposed to provide a package of the character described that lends itself readily to sale in slot machines, in dime stores, drug stores, that may be sold or dispensed in single units or in multiples, arranged in a carton, and ;that will be found extremely useful and sanitary,

by travellers when stopping at serv- Y particularly ice stations, railway stations, hotels, auto camps, department stores, or even for every day use at home and at the office.

More particularly it is proposed to form a toilet seat cover and a number of toilet papers in a roll of convenient size and to place a wrapper around the roll so as to present a convenient cylindrical package adapted for easy handling.

It is further proposed to provide a pull cord in connection with the package whereby the Wrapper may be conveniently cut into two halves or sections adapted to be removed over opposite ends of the roll so as to give access to the latter.

Further. objects and advantages of my invention will appear as the specification proceeds,

and the novel features of my invention will be fully defined in the claims attached hereto.

The preferred form of my invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 shows a side view of my package,

Figure 2, an end view of the same,

Figure 3, a plan view of a folded toilet seat cover and a plurality of sheets of toilet paper stacked for the rolling operation,

Figure 4, an enlarged fragmentary section taken along line dof Figure 3, and Figure 5, a transverse section taken along line 5-5 of Figure 1.

While I have shown only the preferred form of my invention, I wish to have it understood that various changes and modifications may be made within the scope of the claims attached hereto without departin from the spirit of the invention.

Referring to the drawing in detail, a toilet seat cover I is shown, more or less schematically, as being folded upon itself to form a rectangle of a size corresponding substantially to that of an individual sheet of conventional tissue toilet paper. Toilet seat covers of this character are well known in the art and are usually made fof thin tissue paper, and it is not deemed necessary, for the purposes of the present invention, to give a detailed description of the same. In Figure 4 the toilet seat cover is shown to comprise three folds, but it will be readily understood that in actual practice more folds would ,be necessary to produce the desired shape. In

one preferred form of my invention I find, for

instance, that a conventional sheet of toilet seat cover should be folded one way along two parallel lines to produce three thicknesses, and then again folded transversely along two parallel lines to provide nine thicknesses altogether.

The manner of folding depends upon the size and shape of the original sheet, the main idea being that it should be folded in convenient form for the succeeding operations, corresponding in size and shape substantially to that of ,a conventional individual sheet of toilet paper and sufiiciently compacted that it may conveniently be rolled, with a number of superimposed sheets of toilet paper, shown at 2, into a roll which may be about five inches long and has a diameter of approximately inch so as to form a relatively soft, yielding body sufiiciently self-sustain ing to retain its cylindrical form under normal conditions and still sufficiently yielding that it may be readily carried in a garment pocket, in a ladys purse, or in similar confined spaces.

Since as a rule approximately 9 sheets of toilet paper will be adequate for one package, the overall thickness of the stack of toilet papers will be about the same as that of the folded toilet seat cover.

After the folded toilet seat cover and the superimposed sheets of toilet paper have been rolled into a cylindrical body 3 of the character described, a wrapper i is applied to the outside of the body. The latter, in its final state, comprises numerous sheets arranged in spiral form, but is indicated in Figure 5 merely as a solid body and cross-hatched as such.

The wrapper consists ofwa, thin sheet of paper or similar material suiiiciently long to have overlappin longitudinal edges 5 which are glued together by means of a suitable adhesive. The ends of the wrapper extend slightly beyond the ends of the rolled body and are suitably folded upon the same as at t.

Before the wrapper is applied, a thin pull cord 1 is wound around the cylindrical body a few times, the end of the pull cord being anchored in the adhesive between the overlapping edges of the wrapper and projecting beyond the same, 7

trave "nib-dated in the pocket and the hand bag for as at 8, for easy gripping. The pull cord is preferably applied midway of the length of the package thus formed, as shown. When it is desired to open the package, the user merely grips the projectin end of the pull cord and tears the wrapper by pulling the pull cord around the package. This separates the wrapper into two halves, which may be readily removed by pulling the same in opposite directions over the ends of the roll.

The manner of using the invention will be readily understood from the foregoing description.

The sheet of toilet seat cover I is first folded as described, and a small stack of sheets of toilet paper is superimposed thereon. The sheets are then rolled to form a compact cylindrical body. The pull cord is then wound about the center of the body a few times and the wrapper is applied in such a manner that the free end of the cord is anchored in the seal and projects beyond the same. Foldin the ends of the wrapper in the manner shown completes the package.

The packages maybe sold in individual units, "slotinachines or the like, or may be arranged in cartons for sale through stores or other outletsfioi' of course may be given away free as part er the service rendered by service stations, auto camps, department stores, hotels or the They may readily be carried along by the ller in quantities and inay be easily accomindividual use. 7 I

It is apparent that the ends of the wrapper may be folded in any suitable manner, as by crimping or by sealing with adhesive, to insure p rfect sanitation.

I claim: r l. A convenience package of the character described, comprising a toilet seat cover folded sbstauuany to the shape and'size of an indi- "al'piece of toilet paper, and a limited number 'pl'f' individual sheets of toilet paper arranged to form stack therewith, the stack bein rolled into cylindrical form and having means for holding the same in said form.

' 2.15 convenience package of the character described, comprising a toilet seat cover folded lengthwise and crosswise substantially to the shape and size of an individual piece of toilet later, "and a limited number of individualsheets "of toi'lfet paper arranged to form a stack therewith, the stack being rolled into cylindrical form and having means for holding the same in said fm- -3. A convenience package of the character described, comprising a toilet seat cover folded lengthwise to form three thicknesses and again crosswise to form nine thicknesses, with the area of the folded cover corresponding substantially to that of an individual sheet of toilet paper, and a limited number of individual sheets of toilet paper arranged to form a stack therewith, the stack being rolled into cylindrical form and having means for holding the same in said form.

4. A convenience package of the character described, comprising a toilet seat cover folded substantially to the shape and size of an individual piece of toilet paper, and a limited number of individual sheets of toilet paper arranged to form astack therewith, the stack being rolled into cylindrical form and having means for holding the saine in said form, the combined thickness of the sheets of toilet paper corresponding approximately to that of the folded seat cover.

5. A convenience package of the character described, comprising a toilet seat cover folded substantially to the shape and sizeof an individual piece of toilet paper, and a limited number of individual sheets of toilet paper arranged to form a stack therewith, the stack being rolled into cylindrical form and having means for holding the same in said form, and the body thus formed having an approximate length of five inches and an approximate diameter of inch.

6. A convenience package of the character described, comprising a toilet seat cover folded substantially to the shape and size of an individual piece of toilet paper, and a limited number of individual sheets of toilet paper arranged to form a stack therewith, the stack being rolled into cylindrical form and having a wrapper for holding the same in said form, with pull cord means midway of the length of the wrapper for cutting the same in two halves. V

MABEL E. GOURDIN.

REFERENCES 'CITED The following references are of record in the H file of this patent:

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